The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1887-06-02
NOTES..
MEMORIAL DAY.
BY CoMRADE ASA FoRPEsT,

UNKNOWN GRAVES.
ComRADE ASA FORREST, sR.
On sundered helds, beneath the southern sky,
In graves unknown, our missing comrades sleep,
Where wooing winds i'll seemy sorrows sigh,
While ptying stars their silent sentries keep.
What though their lowly graves are all unknown,
Their deeds enamel istory's brightest page
Deeds that nation boasts to proudly own,
Shall be recounted in each coming age.
Nations may rise and fall-may live and die
And men remember not their time nor place;
The amber lights may fade from evenings sky.
And still those patriots deeds be ever traced.
With e7ger pride, remotest tongues shall tell
The to uchng story of their dauntless fate
Scorched by cannohs flaming breath, they fell
For sacred homes. the glory of the st.te.
No marble tombs nor monuments of stone,
Could leud luster to their honored name;
Through all the teeming lands, fro.n zone to zone,
Where love of valor lives, there lives their fame.
Memorial Day, May 80, dawned with a
furry of rain and dark ovcr-hanging
clouds, and not until noon did they show
any signs Of rolling by. Durin the fore
noon squad of veterans belonging to
Gen. Lyon Post went out to Forest Hill
cemetery and decorated the soldiers
graves About l:30 O CLOCK in the after
noon Gen. Lyon Post, headed by the I'd
Regiment Band, marched from G.. A. R.
hall to Bedford Hall, when the following
program was carried out:
1st-Regular memorial services OF the G. A. r.
2J-SymboliCal decoration Of graves by G.. A. II.
w. Il. G. and S. Of V.
3d-Readlng of order of national commander,
ordering special services in holor of GeD John A.
Logan, and such exercises shall be arranged for
the occasion.
4th-Readng of order of department command
er, requesting special services in memory Of Gen.
L. s. Free, and such services as may be prepared
in compliance with the order
5th-Readine action of Gen. Lyon Post, fixing
this day time of SPECIAL memorial to their
oomrade. 0sten Opsal, with appropriate observ-
ance.
6th.-oration by W. Il. stoldard, of Sioux
Falls.
There occurs always on Memorial da y
a good many things to stir the blood, to
touch the heart and to turn the thoughts
Of young and old in the right direction.
The general display and exercises on this
day are not to remind us of the realities of
war, but az vivid illustration OF what
the brave heroes had to 60 through. The
music, the legends on the banners, the
movements of the old veterans, are well
calculated to stir the blood, and yet
there are no reminders of war that open
up old wounds or fans to new life old re-
sentm ents.
The grafton by Hon. W. H. Stoddard
was an effort well rendered and in an elo-
quent manner. Mr.. Stoddard dwelled
upon our noble sons OF war who have
been called hence. Their names are
without number. That roster of these
heroes is incomplete that omits any sol
dicr- patriot, from the commander-in
chief to the humblest private in the ear
ranks. The day which reveals all things
alone can declare the nobility of these
men and Of those who are sleeping unde,
mounds in our national cemeteries in
nameless graves.
The following tribute to John A. Lo
gan, by comiade Asa Forrest, was deliv.
cred before Gen. Lyon Post, the occasion
being the special memorial service order
)